Hellboy II: The Golden Army 2008

Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune: I can barely keep up with the mythology put forth by the Hellboy series, but I enjoyed the first film, and I enjoyed the new one. Read more

Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times: The parade of creatures Del Toro and his team have come up with as this scenario unfolds, starting with a tour of the legendary Troll Market that one-ups the Mos Eisley cantina scene in Star Wars, will make you want to tip your hat in wonder. Read more

Luke Y. Thompson, L.A. Weekly: ...in a summer of billionaires with robot suits and nerdy scientists with rage issues, somehow the red-skinned demon who drinks beer in the shower is the big screen superhero I can relate to the most. Read more

Amy Nicholson, I.E. Weekly: Del Toro creates great machines, but besides the fluke of the first Hellboy, his characters leave me cold. Read more

David Edelstein, New York Magazine/Vulture: Has modest charms -- enough to overcome my CG-ennui for at least a few scenes. Read more

Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal: If you didn't know that there's a Troll Market underneath the east tower of the Brooklyn Bridge, you need to brush up on your monstrosities with the help of Guillermo del Toro's hugely inventive -- and smashingly beautiful -- Hellboy II: The Golden Army. Read more

Christy Lemire, Associated Press: Words don't really do justice in attempting to describe the wondrous array of misfits and monsters Guillermo del Toro has concocted in Hellboy II: The Golden Army. Read more

Mark Rahner, Seattle Times: Director Guillermo del Toro is a mad genius, and I want to get drunk with him. Read more

Nathan Rabin, AV Club: Hellboy 2 breezes along on the strength of Perlman's brawling charisma, a likeable tone, and a deft combination of goofball humor, pathos, and big action setpieces. Read more

Bill Goodykoontz, Arizona Republic: Much more than a big-action, small-brain summer movie. Read more

Ty Burr, Boston Globe: A blast of fanboy wit, style, imagination, and prodigious noise that comes on like heavy-bore pop art. Read more

Joshua Katzman, Chicago Reader: Del Toro's previous film, the complex, visually arresting Pan's Labyrinth, demonstrated his growth as a filmmaker, and though the themes here aren't as profound, the striking set design and use of nonhuman characters carry over. Read more

Amy Biancolli, Houston Chronicle: Melds the original Hellboy's kibitzy humor and crushing action with Labyrinth's darkest fairy-tale imaginings. Read more

Tom Charity, CNN.com: Let's hope Universal stays the course and gives us that opportunity. People as creative as del Toro and his gang need all the support we can give them. Read more

Peter Rainer, Christian Science Monitor: Despite its comic-book trappings, Hellboy II, even more so than its predecessor, Hellboy, resembles nothing so much as an art film phantasmagoria. Read more

Lisa Kennedy, Denver Post: The PG-13 Hellboy is fun. And it's unafraid to embrace the schmaltzy. Read more

Tom Long, Detroit News: The film's flaws wither in the light of its brilliant ambitions. Read more

Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly: To make a comic-book fantasy this derivative yet this dazzling requires more than technique. It takes a director in touch with his inner hellboy. Read more

Laremy Legel, Film.com: In the end I found myself pulling for the bad guy -- because at least he was interesting. Read more

Michael Rechtshaffen, Hollywood Reporter: With writer-director del Toro given free license to go where his singular vision takes him, Hellboy II plays like Guillermo's Greatest Hits with even hotter visual effects. Read more

Rene Rodriguez, Miami Herald: It's the path del Toro takes to get there that gives the film its propulsive kick: You literally never know what's coming next, and what does is always better and cooler than you could have imagined. Read more

Christopher Orr, The New Republic: Hellboy II, though not as keenly conceived or nimbly executed as its predecessor, is still likable entertainment. Read more

Rafer Guzman, Newsday: Hellboy II, like its 2004 predecessor, has a middling story line, but it's made memorable by the dark, freaky visions of director Guillermo del Toro. And this time, his imagination runs wilder than ever. Read more

Bruce Diones, New Yorker: This film is happy to coast on its good humor and brilliant action pieces. Fair enough, since del Toro has taken the poetry of some of his best work and butched it up, creating some of the most amazing-looking creatures and battles of his career. Read more

Stephen Whitty, Newark Star-Ledger: It's del Toro telling stories in the language of Hollywood. And I miss the language of his dreams. Read more

Elizabeth Weitzman, New York Daily News: The inventive del Toro creates visual fantasies unlike any other, and the creatures on display here are truly extraordinary. But amid all the costumes, all the action, and all the special effects, it's the humanity that makes his work so memorable. Read more

Kyle Smith, New York Post: Guillermo del Toro's more extravagant, $75 million follow-up to his 2004 B-movie doesn't take any of this particularly seriously. It's a monster movie in which the monsters listen to Barry Manilow. Read more

A.O. Scott, New York Times: It was made with the kind of heedless, geeky enthusiasm that has been drained out of the standard, somber superhero melodramas that crowd the multiplexes these days. It's an artful, clever throwaway that may, over time, turn into a valuable collectible. Read more

Roger Moore, Orlando Sentinel: As big, mindlessly fantastical summer entertainment goes, this falls comfortably between Iron Man (the gold standard) and the not-quite Incredible Hulk. It's a visually striking, mildly amusing way to kill a couple of hours. Read more

Steven Rea, Philadelphia Inquirer: For all its eye-popping, Middle Earth-meets-Mos Eisley majesty -- its mix of Heironymus Bosch, Jules Verne and George Lucas -- Hellboy II is a letdown. Read more

James Berardinelli, ReelViews: The second film is more assured, better paced, and has a stronger emotional component. Read more

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: [del Toro] has an endlessly inventive imagination, and understands how legends work, why they entertain us and that they sometimes stand for something. For love, for example. Read more

Peter Travers, Rolling Stone: A surprise package of fun, fright and untamed imagination. Read more

Stephanie Zacharek, Salon.com: Poetic, funny, darkly romantic and beautifully structured. Read more

Peter Hartlaub, San Francisco Chronicle: The talented fantasy filmmaker and heir to the Lord of the Rings throne gets the tone right throughout Hellboy 2, and the hip retro charm alone is enough to merit recommendation. Read more

Dana Stevens, Slate: Unlike many action filmmakers, del Toro doesn't thrill to the hardware of manmade technology. He prefers the soft, organic textures of flesh, and his trove of imaginary beasties is unmatched in modern fantasy filmmaking. Read more

Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune: It's the biggest, richest, most imaginative superhero movie of the summer. Read more

Liam Lacey, Globe and Mail: Hellboy, a sensitive devil with a tough exterior, is an inspired creation but limited as a dramatic protagonist. When you start with a demon hero, you can't settle for making his adversary a less complex demon. Read more

Bruce Demara, Toronto Star: One can't help but wonder whether Del Toro hasn't misjudged the balance between comedy and gravity in this sequel. Read more

Richard Corliss, TIME Magazine: If the film is just as strange and endearing as its glowing protagonist -- and it is -- that's because the director and co-writer is Guillermo del Toro, 43, who has the wildest imagination and grandest ambitions of anybody in modern movies. Read more

Nigel Floyd, Time Out: Guillermo del Toro's Faberge egg of a fairytale is not so much a sequel as a fusion of the fabulist imagination of 'Pan's Labyrinth' with the witty, irreverent comic-book action of his own 'Hellboy'. Read more

Claudia Puig, USA Today: With director Guillermo del Toro's fantastical vision on overdrive tempered by an occasionally self-mocking sense of humor, this Hellboy sequel is a quintessential summer movie that delivers plenty of inventive thrills. Read more

John Anderson, Variety: There's a precision to the visual ornateness of Hellboy II that exceeds even that of its predecessor. Read more

Chuck Wilson, Village Voice: Hellboy II doesn't have much on its mind, but few will care, since del Toro and his stellar Pan's Labyrinth team, including Oscar-winning cinematographer Guillermo Navarro, stage one virtuoso set piece after another. Read more

Ann Hornaday, Washington Post: As he has done in all his movies, from creature features such as Mimic to serious dramas such as Pan's Labyrinth, del Toro creates unforgettable images, filled with color, texture, lyricism and horror. Read more